Virtual Fantasy
by Dustbunny3
Summary: HIATUS. Pixelshipping. Noa's data pieces itself back together and he finds himself in a virtual adventure game with a very familiar-looking queen. To his dismay, he soon finds that he's not the only one who's pulled himself back together.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Dustbunny doesn't own Yu Gi Oh! Show of hands, who already knew that?

A/N: And here we have the revamped version of _Virtual Fantasy_. There's not much difference from the original. I just cleaned up a few basic errors. If I missed anything, please let me know! Oh, this fic is, of course, still dedicated to Lady D, who planted the idea of the couple in my head. Thanks goes to her for beta-reading the first chapter for me.

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Silence. Darkness. These two things overtook his senses. No sound... no light... not anywhere. In one sense, it was peaceful, even lulling. But in another it was eerie and empty. Why was it silent and why was there no light? Where was this place of emptiness? How had he gotten here? For what reason? And why did he have the odd feeling that he wasn't all there..?

Slowly, ever so slowly, he began to pull up bits and pieces of information. He was in a database of some sort, a game of one kind or another judging by the program that he examined. But this only resurrected old questions and gave birth to some new. Where exactly was he? Why and how? Had he not been destroyed with his father? After a moment of pondering, he realized that, no, he couldn't possibly have been destroyed. If he had been, he would have a rather well difficult time wondering over whether or not he had been. The thought was ridiculous in itself.

But, if he had not been destroyed- which obviously he had not been- what did happen? Why was he overcome with the strong, strange feeling that he was incomplete as of now? It occurred to him that the only part of him that now "lived" was his virtual self, the collection of data formed by his father. His father... if he himself had not been destroyed, then what of the old man? Was he floating around here somewhere as well? The possibility would have made him shudder, if he could have, and, in a way, he did.

The time to worry about that wasn't now. Surely if Gozoburo too lingered in this system he'd of made himself known. Getting upset over the slim chance that they'd somehow wound up together within the universe of cyberspace had so far done no good except to make him lose his train of thought. He was but a computer file, cyber data. Computer data is forever. Even if it was deleted, it was shipped off into yet another part of this digital land. It would always be there. It was all a matter as to whether or not someone in the world could locate the data again. That, he supposed, was what had happened in his own case.

Was this what he'd been forced into, what he'd forced himself into? An eternity of dark, silent nothingness that contained not even his full self? Or rather what self he had left. He had, after all, died six years prior. He had no true, solid body to call his own. Even if his virtual counterpart was fully re-digitized, he would not be truthfully connected in body, mind, and soul. Did he even have a soul anymore? Perhaps his true soul had gone along with his body those years ago, leaving only his mind to suffer. At least he still possessed the ability to download information from the web. Maybe by keeping up with the events of the world he could manage to keep himself sane. As appealing was the idea to be the world's first digital hobo/ wacko, he'd rather steer clear of the position.

Yes, the idea was plausible. After all, his data had been able to slip simply enough into the game system. Perhaps he could even somehow become part of the game, control a small piece of it to make it more interesting for the players. He was so pleased by his new plan that he almost missed the subtle occurrence going on with his own programming.

It was an odd feeling, like he was being pulled back together. He began searching though the databanks for the answer to this new problem. Quite suddenly he realized that he was moving his right arm. This wouldn't have been odd except that only moments before he'd been without the limb. Similar things were happening with other missing parts of his digital body. Again he searched for the cause. It didn't take long to find.

The game that he was in, he realized as he paid actual attention to the system for the first time, was quite advanced. His own data had melded with that of the game and it was looking upon him now as a broken file- which he actually was in a way. As the system now recognized him as being part of itself, it had automatically set itself to the task of repairing him. He was slowly but surely becoming whole again- at least as whole as he could get.

He wasn't sure why what happened next hadn't occurred to him before. It was so obvious an event to occur. However, he did not see it coming and, most likely, would not have been able to do anything of it even if he'd known. He had gone from a floating, aimless blob of information to a solid- in a sense- being. It was only natural that he'd fall. And fall he did, all the way from the sky where, for whatever reason, the system had decided to repair its broken file. Luckily, he was not fully recreated when he hit tree after tree and finally hard ground so he didn't receive the full force of the impact.

It was in the same spot that he'd landed that he laid for several moments before trying to move again. And it was in that spot that he continued to lay when he discovered just how futile the attempt was. And it was in this spot that he heard a sudden intake of breath and delicate footsteps rush toward him accompanied by a sweet voice.

"Are you alright?" the worried voice asked urgently.

All right? Did he look all right to this girl- for he was quite sure the voice was that of a female? He tried to turn toward her to relay the sentiment out loud. He failed miserably. Who knew so much pain could come to a person made up of strategically placed zeros and ones?

Forcing his eyes open and barely seeing through the lights that insisted on dancing in his way, he looked upon the face of this new presence. The face was delicate and twisted in concern, the eyes large and bright, the hair long and a color that the proudest of ravens would envy.

"Mo... ku... ba..?" he choked out in confusion. He could see waves of emotion pass through the eyes of the person beside him. Recognition, happiness, suspicion, confusion- all rolled up into one nice little package that was this person's features. Noa's final thought before giving in to his all-expense-paid trip to La-la Land was, _Why the heck is he wearing a dress?_

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Noa awoke on a comfortable bed in an elegantly furnished room. Sitting up slowly, his gaze fell upon a small figure sitting in a chair beside the bed, hunched up and asleep. The figure began to stir at the same time that his vision fully cleared. It looked so like Mokuba, but, upon further inspection, was definitely not. This person was a girl.

"You're awake," she stated the obvious with a tired smile. She stretched a bit and stifled a yawn.

"Yes, I suppose that I am," Noa replied. "But where am I awake exactly?"

"You're in my palace. I'm Queen Meyari," she told him. Then, after a short pause, "How do you know Mokuba?"

He looked at her a moment before answering. How in the world did _she_ know Mokuba?

"I'm his brother," Noa told her, taking note of the appreciation and admiration she now looked upon him with. "What about you? How do you know Mokuba?"

"It was he and the other heroes that saved my kingdom," she told him.

That statement had all but lost him. Calling upon the information that was now part of his digital coding, he searched for the logic behind her statement. According to the files that he checked, a player was indeed supposed to go on a quest involving assisting the queen and her kingdom, but the way she spoke...

Noa rapidly searched through more files. Ah ha! The entire record of the past game was stored in the memory. However... it was part of the mainframe memory. Should _she_ be able to recall the past games? She didn't even know that she was within a game, after all.

Before Noa could put his question to the maiden now standing at his side or check further into it himself, a loud tremor shook the ground. Noa fell back against the bed pillows, whilst Meyari was sent to the floor.

Pulling himself up, Noa looked out the window beside him up at the deep red sky that rumbled with thunder and was flashed into life by lightning. Darkness spread throughout the land and blocked out any signs of sunshine. A cruel, sinister laugh sounded from apparently nowhere. It was a laugh that Noa knew well. He shuddered as a cold sweat broke out across his body, and braced himself against yet another tremor.

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Dustbunny: And here we are again at the bottom of the first chapter. So many memories- mostly because this is almost the exact same as the original first chapter, sans dub names and a repeated sentence

Marshmallow: Well, we hope you enjoyed this little teaser of a first chapter. If you want to see the next you'll have to review!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: ... Shoot... I'm out of sarcastic remarks...

A/N: And here we are in the revised chapter two. I had to do a bit more with this. I hope you appreciate how much time it takes to manually replace every instance of dub information with original. Curse my previous Total Dubbism… Anyway, if I missed any "Noa**h**" or "Adina" or anything like that, as well as any other problems, please let me know. Otherwise, just enjoy the story.

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Noa grit his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut, trying his best not to pass out from fear. So, he had not been alone in his arrival to this new land. So much for a fresh start. More like a new way to re-live an old end.

"Are you o- ohhhhh!" concern became surprise and fear when the petite princess that had stood beside Noa a moment ago was suddenly flung haphazardly across his lap by yet another terrifying quake of the foundation below them.

"Sorry," came the embarrassed apology that Noa barely heard as a blushing Meyari attempted to reacquaint herself with a standing position. At the same time she was trying to see out the window for a clue as to what was happening.

She could not really understand, though, Noa knew. All she could see were dark, ominous clouds hiding the blue sky that had been present mere minutes ago and swift bolts of lightning zigzagging between the sky and ground. She didn't understand the true nature behind the raging winds or the booming thunder. Could she even hear the sinister cackling that came from empty space? Could she sense the wickedness in the shaking grounds? No, surely not.

"Oh!"

Noa was pulled from his grim musing by a sharp cry of horror. So preoccupied by what the big picture behind this small scene was, Noa had up until now failed to notice the screams of pain and fear coming from outside. Also somehow ignored were the howls and roars of the beasts that accompanied the virtual villagers. It was almost ironic that such a small cry had brought him out of his ignorance.

Meyari cried out once more at what was happening outside the window. Buildings were falling, people were running in terror, in their frenzy, the monsters that resided within the village were adding to the chaos. Tiny fairies flew around and made attempts to calm the madness, but to no avail.

While Noa was doing his best to gather his courage, Meyari had efficiently hopped up from the bed and rushed to the door. Knowing immediately where she intended to go, Noa threw back the blankets that covered him from the waist down and ran as well as he could with the quaking after the fleeing form.

"Stop!" he commanded. Meyari did not heed.

As difficult as it was for him to progress on the unsteady ground, Meyari was faring no better and he caught up to her within a few seconds.

"Stop!" he repeated, grabbing Meyari by her upper arm and effectively halting her.

"My people!" she cried helplessly, turning to face him with shimmering eyes. "I have to help them!"

"How?" Noa demanded of her. She could not answer.

The ground began to shake with even more ferocity. The walls of the palace started to crumble and Noa cursed himself for holding the both of them in the unstable hall. Of course the building would become questionable. He had thought only to keep her from putting herself out into the open and had forgotten this tiny detail.

"We've gotta get out of here!" he cried to Meyari.

The girl scowled, no doubt realizing that it was indeed he that had prevented this very action. She said nothing of it, however, and turned to lead the way out. The pair had to run and duck to avoid debris that was now loosing itself from the ceiling above them. If the ceiling was growing shaky then the floor was definitely going to do or already doing the same.

While running, Noa tried to search through the databanks once more in search of any sort of protection that the digital land could offer. But it was no simple task. The game had gone into a defense mode, trusting nothing to chance. As far as the system was concerned, there was a virus in its midst. It was defending itself, blocking all stores of memory from anything and everything. Thus, Noa had to both concentrate on the task at hand- getting Meyari and himself out of the castle- as well as finding some way to halt Gozaburo's assaults.

After what seemed like over a thousand of the most advanced fire walls that Noa had ever encountered, the main store of intelligence was located. At the same time, he followed Meyari into the open air of the outside. Now was the time for action.

"Meyari!" he said in his most commanding voice, having to shout to be heard over the chaos of the village. "Meyari, go someplace safe!"

Before she could protest, Noa darted away from her though she was unsure where. But then Noa had no more of an idea than she. All he knew was that he needed to find an open area ideal to trigger the system's main defense mechanism. As far as he could tell, the only reason it had not launched already was because Gozaburo had found a way to turn off the automated launcher. It would have to be switched on manually. Since it did not seem that anyone on the outside would be activating it soon, it was up to Noa.

After what felt like decades, Noa emerged in a secluded part of the surrounding forest that had been cleared of trees by the massive winds. He turned toward the sky just in time to see a face forming in the clouds. It was a familiar face indeed. It took all of Noa's will-power to keep from fainting, vomiting, or both. Instead, he looked boldly up at the hideous form that loomed above him. He braced himself against the roaring, evil laughter that rang from it.

Eyes squinted in concentration, Noa began the defense-launch protocol. Quite a task it was, as the boy could barely keep himself rooted to his spot on the ground. The only reason that he was staying so well as he was, really, was due to the fact that Gozaburo had failed to notice him and was busily taunting and torturing the villagers- no doubt searching for his renegade son. After minutes that contained seconds like hours, the thunder and lightening began to dull, and the wind to lull to more of a strong breeze.

Knowing that something was amiss, the great face, contorted by anger, searched for the cause. It was not long before Noa was spotted. Eyes widened and jaw clenched, all of Gozaburo's energy was suddenly focused on the young Kaiba. Noa would have been done for if that power was not already dimming.

With Gozaburo weakened, Noa quickly began reinstating the firewalls that should have blocked his father in the first place. This time, the walls were reinforced with a code of Noa's own making. Gozaburo let out one final howl of hatred before his face disappeared completely from the purple and red clouds. It was not a howl of defeat, Noa knew. That howl was one that promised vengeance. Hopefully, the new codes would be able to delay him at the very least.

Normally, Noa would have been quit afraid at the thought. Now, however, he found it very difficult to care. He was too tired to go through the trouble of comprehending worry or fear or anything else for that matter. In fact, Noa had never been so tired in his entire existence.

His work complete for the time being, the boy allowed himself onto the welcoming softness of the grass carpet below him. So comfortable he was, that he barely noticed the small rocks poking into his back in a way that would have otherwise made him relocate. But now all he wanted was to rest.

A gasp sounded just before the thudding of footsteps. Noa groggily recognized Meyari before his vision gave out on him completely. He was able to identify one interesting and, frankly, odd detail about his surroundings. While the trees had been blown away and the some of the grass torn from where it had been, the surrounding mountains had given him a jolt of recognition.

He was in the exact spot he had been the first time Meyari had found him.

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Noa tiredly opened his eyes and attempted to survey his surroundings. His whole body screamed at him for moving and even his eyes conspired to force him to lay down once more by refusing to operate properly. Nonetheless, the youth managed to will the blurriness from his vision to see where he was. He was in a bed in an elegantly furnished room; Meyari's head lay on his side from where she had fallen asleep in her chair beside him. She began to stir, roused by his movement.

Groggy eyes met groggy eyes as the Meyari looked up at Noa who was trying his best to sit up. A small smile triggered another to respond, though it was hard to say which was the cause and which the action.

"We really need to stop meeting like this," Noa joked tiredly.

Meyari nodded whilst trying to settle on either a yawn or a giggle, both of which were trying to escape. Stretching her stiff joints, Meyari looked over Noah with a sudden seriousness in her eyes.

"What happened? I think you know," she said quietly.

Noa was silent for several moments before answering.

"Someone I know," he told her, leaving out half the truth. "I've had to face him before," he added.

"I see," said Meyari in a quiet, thoughtful tone. There seemed also to be some trace of nervousness or fear for which Noa did not blame her. "But he's gone now, right?" she questioned hopefully.

Silence was the only answer she needed. Finding her lap suddenly interesting, Meyari wrung her hands nervously.

"He'll be back," she said for Noa who only nodded solemnly.

"I'll try to keep him away," Noa assured. "But..."

Awkward silence then filled the room. Wishing to put an end to it, Meyari cleared her throat as loud as was possible for her.

"You should get some rest," she told her guest as she stood. "Later, when you've recovered some, I'll show you around a bit. You may desire a different room. This one is rather small."

"You mean," said Noa in astonishment, "you don't want me to... leave? But what if-"

"Whether you've gone or not," cut in Meyari, "I'm quite sure that… thing will return anyway. I believe that we may need you here at that time."

Nothing could come to the boy's mind to do but stare in awe. A tingly feeling overtook his eyes and he had to blink several times to make it go away. She was so much like… Mokuba.

Not until a small smile crept upon the Meyari's face did Noa realize that he had said the last two words aloud. Meyari blushed slightly at what was to her stunning praise.

"It's true, you know," Noa told her.

A nod was his reply, the smile never leaving her lips.

"Get some sleep," she told him. "After that, I'll show you around and you can choose a room."

This said, Meyari rose and walked gracefully from the room while Noa did as she said and laid down for a nap. Closing his eyes, he could not help but wonder if this would not be so bad after all.

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Dustbunny: It's beginning! Whee!

Bunnydust: Don't worry. They're not falling in love yet. Right now there's just respect, admiration, gratitude, stuff like that.

Marshmallow: Now that's outta the way, please review! No flames, please. Constructive criticism is great, though.


End file.
